Sandra Dodd

I had an e-mail:

"... to ask if you know of any research or work that has been done on "obsessions", "binges", etc -- the apparently natural human desire to fixate on one subject, person, food, interest, hobby, etc, for a period, and then move on to something else. The only words I can think of to describe this (and thus the only ways I can think of to search the internet for information on this) have negative connotations, but I see this as quite normal, and I was even thinking that especially as far as food is concerned, this would have been quite a natural way for our ancestors to do things, as food is available seasonally without more modern food preservation techniques; ie, strawberry season lasts for a month or so, and you're so happy to see fresh strawberries that you eat and eat and eat, then strawberry season is over, but it's okay, because you've had your fill for the year. Anyway, if you know of any information about this as normal, natural, or beneficial, perhaps by behavioral psychologists or similar people, or even any leads on where I could look for information, I would be very happy to see it."

For a more positive connotation, I have this page to offer.

http://sandradodd.com/focus

But for research about foods, or ideas about seasonal diets, I figured others here would have ideas.

Sandra




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Deb Lewis

There is the term “Flow” which describes a mental state of a person deeply immersed in some activity. The Wikipedia article is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Deb Lewis


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Deb Lewis

Oh, and maybe some of the writings about the ten thousand hours to mastery idea, sometimes called the 10 Thousand Hour Rule. There’s a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers. The book was pretty heavily criticized but he interviewed a bunch of successful people and figured they had accomplished their great things by committing a lot of time. Ten thousand hours. <g>


Deb Lewis

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Deb Lewis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) Here’s that link. Hopefully.
Deb Lewis

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Deb Lewis

There’s a bunch of research on seasonal eating if you’re a black bear! There’s a Wikipedia article that references a BBC program from 2008 called “What To Eat Now” that aimed to persuade people to eat a seasonal diet. The name of that Wikipedia article (incase I bugger the link) is “Seasonal Food” and it might or might not be here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_food
I haven’t seen the program and don’t know if it sites any research.

Deb Lewis

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Joyce Fetteroll

On Feb 21, 2012, at 4:38 PM, Deb Lewis wrote:

> figured they had accomplished their great things by
> committing a lot of time. Ten thousand hours. <g>

Unfortunately some people have twisted that and think it's purely about time invested. But really it's about the burning desire to do something for that many hours.

Joyce

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sheeboo2

whooops, I saw the post earlier and started to comment and then missed that Deb already had. Highlight the web address--the entire line--so it includes the parenthetical (psychology) and you'll get to the right page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

The 10,000 hours to master something idea that Deb also mentioned is addressed in one of these two TED talks. Both of them are really interesting in any case:

http://www.ted.com/talks/gabe_zichermann_how_games_make_kids_smarter.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

I know I read something about people who eat the same food repeatedly, and it being beneficial for digestive issues. I'll see if I can find it.

Brie

sheeboo2

This is what I was remembering:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110719114340.htm

Eating the same food every day can lead to "habituation" which can lead to eating less and therefore weight loss. Note the small sample group in the study

Not sure if that is helpful or not.

Brie

Jo Isaac

Thanks for all those links on 'Flow' Brie, i hadn't heard of that concept previously and reading about it is just fascinating.

I had a quick scout for other articles that might help the OP, but nothing sprang out - - there was an interesting article on how obessive behaviours may have been selected for through evolution because they may have benefitted either the individual or the group through increased survival and reproduction -- but it was more about OCD's, rather than becoming absorbed or 'lost' in something, and probably not that relevant to the OP.

The abstract is here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19213201
I couldn't read the full-text, as it was in Hungarian!

Jo







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